Monday, 23 November 2015

First of all, an apology: I didn't get round to posting an entry for Sepia Saturday 306. But I haven't been resting, instead I was busy putting together the list of theme images for the first quarter of 2016. The idea of publishing a whole three months of themes in advance was tried for the first time in September and seems to have been successful - it makes things easier for me when I put together the weekly call post and Sepians seem to like the ability to plan ahead. The list of "theme images" for January to March 2016 can be found HERE.

Let me follow that up with another apology. You may look at this week's theme image and say something like "not kids playing games again!" Marilyn chose the theme images for the current quarter but it was not her fault that the two children's game images appeared in consecutive weeks - that was down to me as I swapped the running order around. If you have run out of children's game photos just dig a little deeper and look for other themes within this image which comes from the Flickr stream of the National Archives of Estonia. Or you can ignore any pretence of a theme and give us something entirely unrelated to children playing circular games. Whatever you do, do it on or around Saturday 28th November 2016 and enter a link to it on the Linky List below.

Before we get to the first quarter of 2016, we have the rest of 2015 to deal with. Here is a quick preview of our theme image for next week. If you want to see the remaining prompts for 2015 you can find them HERE.

And finally let me apologise (yet again) for all this looking ahead. I know us Sepians are far more comfortable in looking back into the past rather than looking forward into the future. So forget the rest of 2015 for now and forget 2016. Just concentrate on the week ahead, it will stop your mind going around in circles.

Here is the full set of Sepia Saturday "theme images" for the first quarter of 2016. I have avoided identifying specific themes by name - if you are theming, it is up to you to spot something in the image to use as a theme, however direct or obscure that link might be . And, as always, there is no need to follow any theme - all we ask for is an old image and some new thoughts.

Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Seven boys in a back yard playing a game that would appear to involve throwing a ball or a stone into a line of upturned caps. It is the kind of game kids couldn't play today for what self-respecting child of the twenty-first century wears a cap? It is the kind of photograph that couldn't be taken today because it is hand-tinted. But it is the kind of theme image that would make any self-respecting Sepian think of caps, or children, or playground games or any of the hundreds of things Sepians like to think of. The photograph is from Norwegian DEXTRA Photo Collection stream on Flickr Commons and dates from the early part of the twentieth century. Unlike the strange game the boys are playing, there are no complicated rules to Sepia Saturday - all you need do is to post your post on or around Saturday 21 November 2015 and add a link to the list below.

Whilst you are waiting for your turn to play have a look at what is around the corner and waiting for us at Sepia Saturday 307. And you shouldn't need telling by now, you can see all the themes for the rest of the year HERE.

But now it is your turn to play Sepia Saturday 306. Take careful aim and off you go.

Tuesday, 10 November 2015

The balloon has gone up. Sepia Saturday 305 is here. The balloon in question is one called "Le Neptune" and the photograph is taken from the Flickr collection of the Bibliotheque de Toulouse. You can decide to go in whichever direction you like with this prompt - as long as it is up, up and away. There are grand balloons, children's balloons, barrage balloons, weather balloons and all other kinds of curiosities and diverse objects (which you will see is the name of the Flickr album from which it is taken). Whatever you decide to do, simply do it on or around Saturday 14th November and add a link to the list below.

But before you have ascended so far you can no longer see what is happening back here on earth, take a look at the theme image for next week.

And if you want even more you can always find a full list of all of themes for the rest of the year HERE.

Such things are for the future, for the moment simply step on board the giant Sepia Balloon. Please make sure you have no sharp comments with you - we don't want the balloon bursting.

Monday, 2 November 2015

You would think that you would be glad to see the back of all those ghosts, spirits and ghouls that gathered around the Sepia Saturday 303 prompt last week, but they seem to have sneaked in again. There is a whole sub-literature on spirit pictures - something that was very popular in the late Victorian and Edwardian period. In most cases they can be explained by accidental double exposures, but perhaps out there is the exception to that rational rule. If there is you might want to submit it for Sepia Saturday 304 (post your posts on or around Saturday 7th November 2015). If you don't have any ghosts you could always follow a more logical interpretation of the theme image which is taken from the Flickr Commons stream of Norwegian Preus Museum. Whatever you decide to do, just post your post on or around Saturday 7th November and add a link to the list below.

Ghosts and spirits can see into the future, so they will have no difficulty in telling you what lies ahead for Sepia Saturday. Here is what they predict for Sepia Saturday 305.

If you want to see even further into the future you can always find a complete list of our theme images for the rest of the year HERE.

All this talk of ghosts has made me nervous. I need to calm down before I start searching through my own old family photographs for something suitable for Sepia Saturday 304. What I need is a nice, soothing glass of spirits. Cheers!

Sepia Saturday

Launched by Alan Burnett and Kat Mortensen in 2009, Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind (they don't have to be sepia) become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images. If you want to play along, all we ask is that your sign up to the weekly Linky List, that you try to visit as many of the other participants as possible, and that you have fun.